


USS Lorraine

by Nyyrikki



Series: Of Doctors And Starship Captains [1]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 20:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8341222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyyrikki/pseuds/Nyyrikki
Summary: Wherein McCoy is waiting for his husband to get back from war when he recieves some bad news.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Both written and posted from mobile, so I if there are any formatting issues or an insane amount of typos, I'm so sorry! I did my best to proofread this.
> 
> Although this is not a songfic, the idea came to me while listening to the Dropkick Murphys' version of Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya.

 

"Dr. McCoy? Leonard!"  
The call and the tapping of jogging feet on the corridor behind him get Leonard to stop and turn back. Christine catches up to him panting slightly, the messy bun on her head looking ready to fall apart, and lays her hand on his bicep.  
"The no-contact is over," she says.  
She might have continued, but he's not there to hear it. Leonard runs back down the way he came as fast as his feet carry and pushes through the crowd gathered around the nurse's station. There, on the screen, the news tell that the fighting is done and the federation troops are coming home.  
The walls echo the cheers, there are hugs and pats on his back, and Leonard allows himself a small smile of relief when he continues his way toward the labs, absently rolling the ring circling his finger as he walks.

The war with the Romulans had went on for years. Both parties had for a long time thought it was time to make peace, but there were small cells of extremists sabotaging peace talks whenever they occurred. The latest mission was their last hope.  
The USS Enterprise had taken the covert mission to deliver diplomats to the negotiations. To keep the location secret and ensure the safety and success of the peace talks, the Enterprise had been maintaining radio silence for over a month now. It had been nearly a month and a half since the last message from Captain James T. Kirk. His husband.

It's a week after the end of the war when the message comes in. Jim is not coming back on the Enterprise; he's coming back on USS Lorraine. A medical ship. The ship that carries the dead and severely wounded.

The next two weeks are the longest weeks of Leonard's life. He knows his husband is alive; if Jim had died, Leonard would have gotten more of a message than the cursory note of what vessel Jim was on. The question is how _much_  of his husband is coming back, and in what condition.

USS Farragut makes it back first. The Potemkin follows as second. By the time USS Lorraine finally reaches Earth, Leonard is so anxious he hasn't been allowed to work for days.

The waiting hall is packed with parents, siblings, wives and husbands, all waiting for the moment the one they are there for emerges from the transporter room. Some are pushed out in wheelchairs, some hobble out on crutches, some lean on each other. Few walk out on their own, without any help. All are met with hugs, kisses and tears. There are missing limbs, scars, burns and bandages, and none of it matteres as long as they are alive.

And finally, rolling himself out in a wheelchair, out comes his Jim. Blue eyes bright, rueful grin cutting across his face when he sees Leonard.  
The first kiss is desperate, both needing to know the other is truly there. The second kiss is wet with tears.  
"Hey, Bones" Jim breaths out when Leonard sinks down on his knees and clutches their hands together on Jim's lap.  
"Goddammit Jim" he murmurs as he presses his forehead down against their joined hands. "I should've come with you."  
"You know I wouldn't have let you," Jim replies, trying - and failing - to keep his tone light and cheerful.  
A moment passes when neither says anything. Leonard still has his head down and smooths his thumbs over one of Jim's hands, still wrapped in his own. His husband is running the fingers of the other hand through Leonard's hair, further mussing the already unruly strands.  
"I guess I broke that promise I gave you," Jim says quietly after a while.  
Leonard lifts his head and looks his husband in the eyes. Those bright, shining blue eyes that are the light of his life.  
"No," he says, voice still rough. "All I asked for was that you come home whole. Might not have been expecting the chair, but darlin', I'm just glad you're home."

**Author's Note:**

> The thought behind this AU was 'what if instead of Pike it was Kirk who got tortured by Romulans?'
> 
> Also, I wanted to name the ship USS Normandy, but I didn't want to scratch Mass Effect territory, so I went with Lorraine for the WWII graveyard. The name is for everyone who died at war far away from home.


End file.
